China has lowest number of marriages since 1986, sees population crisis at risk

China last year recorded the fewest marriages since its public records began more than three decades ago – raising concerns that the country faces an impending demographic crisis.

There were 7.6 million marriage registrations in 2021, according to data released by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs last week.

That is the lowest number since 1986, when the ministry began publicly releasing the figures, according to the state-run Global Times tabloid. This represents a 6.1% drop from the previous year and the eighth year in a row that marriage rates have declined.

At the same time, the average age of newlyweds is rising: nearly half of those married last year were 30 or older.

The numbers reflect a trend that increasingly worries officials in the world’s most populous country, with 1.4 billion people: Young people, especially millennials, are increasingly choosing not to marry or have children — and even when they do, it tends to happen later in life.

Experts say the knock-on effect on what is already a declining workforce could have a severe impact on the country’s economy and social stability.

In just six years, the number of Chinese people getting married for the first time has dropped by 41%, from 23.8 million in 2013 to 13.9 million in 2019, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics.

The decline is partly due to decades of policies aimed at limiting China’s population growth, meaning there are fewer young people of marriageable age, according to Chinese officials and sociologists.

But it is also a result of changing attitudes towards marriage, especially among young women who are becoming more educated and financially independent.

Faced with widespread discrimination in the workplace and patriarchal traditions — such as the expectation that women are responsible for child care and housework — some women are becoming disillusioned with the idea of ​​marriage.

Statistics show that both sexes are delaying the period of getting married. From 1990 to 2016, the average age of first marriage increased from 22 to 25 for Chinese women and from 24 to 27 for Chinese men, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The Global Times also pointed to growing job pressures for young people, who face stagnant wages, a competitive labor market and rising costs of living.

The decline in the number of marriages raises concerns about China’s looming demographic crisis, which is struggling to lift its falling birthrate.

In 2014, the country’s working-age population began to decline for the first time in more than three decades.

The following year, the Chinese government announced an end to its one-child policy, allowing couples to have two children, and then increased it to three in 2021 — but marriage and birth rates continued to fall.

China is not the only country struggling with this problem. Japan and South Korea have also faced falling birth rates and dwindling populations in recent years.

The governments of the three countries have introduced measures to encourage births – such as financial incentives, cash vouchers, housing subsidies and more support for child care – but have met with limited success.

*With information from CNN’s Nectar Gan.